Ok... i have posted my wishlist for the next WW2 U-Boat sim before, but i'll shorten it: Some of the items are a bit demanding, others are quite simple, all of them are detail oriented... the details make or break games!
1. The ability to have the crew man harbour stations upon entering and exiting the port. this would be an all non-essential hands on deck, it would be very very nice to see a crowded top deck and conning tower with my sailors waving their hands and hats at the lovely ladies on the dock when we were leaving port and coming back.
2. Manning of stations in shifts similar to SH4 instead of micro managing like SH3.
3. 3D model of every interior compartment of the U-boat from the stern tube to the bow tubes... even the head! Each compartment should contain animated crew in the process of eating, sleeping, maintining equipment, going about their duties, or repairing battle damage.
4. When the crew is loading external stores show the men on deck going through the paces of actually doing the work, rigging up the equipment, etc.
5. Use of enigma machines for decoding of certain messages or all messages depending on realism settings in the game.
6. Survivors manning and lowering life boats... not just appearing like in SH4. aside from survivors in life boats add men walking on the decks, getting killed and even jumping overboard while lit on fire!
7. special missions - not like inserting agents or rescuing downed pilots... more like realistic to U-boats like sneaking in and laying mines in and around an enemy port.
8. AI U-boats out on patrol in the sea with you... might be 10 miles away... might be 500 miles away, but they are there and you might stumble across one some day. (note: they have to be able to fire torpedoes and submerge/ effectively engage the enemy etc)
9. more game play while in port. 3D 1st person environment? walk around in the sub pens... see port personnel repairing your boat, fitting it with new equipment, go to the bar and have small talk with other captains who offer tips on tactics and hunting grounds etc (half life 2 like or heavily scripted like GUN or gran theft auto - nothing too deep just some bit of immersion) ... the player should feel as if they are really leaving an aspect of the game behind when they leave port to go out on patrol, and they should "miss" an aspect of the game while patrolling.
10. Radio with stations just like in SH4 - BUT the major difference being that you can direction find these stations to assist in the manual navigation options to triangulate your position.
11. this one kinda goes with the interior modeling of the compartments. why not add crew sliding down the ladders during an alarm dive? or ad crew moving from compartment to compartment during the shift changes? not just appearing where they are supposed to be. the player has 30 to 50 men on the boat... he should be made to feel like it... not the 7 ot 8 we are used to seeing.
like i said - the above has been posted before, but just my two cents worth.
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